Croatian Tales of Long Ago

Croatian Tales of Long Ago (Croatian: Priče iz davnine lit. "Stories from Ancient Times"), is a short story collection written by the acclaimed children's author Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (sometimes spelled as "Ivana Berlić-Mažuranić" in English),[1] originally published in 1916 in Zagreb by the Matica hrvatska publishing house.[2] The collection is considered her masterpiece and it features a series of newly written fairy tales heavily inspired by motifs taken from ancient Slavic mythology of pre-Christian Croatia.[3]

Croatian Tales of Long Ago
Cover of the 1924 London edition
AuthorIvana Brlić-Mažuranić
Original titlePriče iz davnine
TranslatorF.S. Copeland
IllustratorVladimir Kirin
CountryCroatia
LanguageCroatian
GenreChildren's short story collection
PublisherMatica hrvatska
Publication date
1916
Published in English
1922 (New York)
1924 (London)
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages258 pp (New York edition)

Croatian Tales of Long Ago are seen as one of the most typical examples of her writing style which has been compared by literary critics to Hans Christian Andersen and J. R. R. Tolkien due to the way it combines original fantasy plots with folk mythology.[3]

The collection was translated into English by F.S. Copeland and first published in New York in 1922 by the Frederick A. Stokes Co.[4] and in 1924 in London by the George Allen & Unwin publishing house,[1] the same company which originally published J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit in 1937,[5] and The Lord of the Rings trilogy in 1954–55.[6][7] The English-language editions also featured illustrations by the Croatian illustrator Vladimir Kirin.[4]

Overview

The original Croatian edition published in 1916 consisted of six stories. Two additional stories were later added and first published in the Croatian 1926 edition. These eight appear in contemporary Croatian editions. Since the English translation was published before the extra two stories were written, they featured only the original six tales. The following is the list of original titles followed by English titles as translated by Copeland (stories missing from the English version are marked with the † symbol):

  • Kako je Potjeh tražio istinu (How Quest Sought the Truth)
  • Ribar Palunko i njegova žena (Fisherman Plunk and His Wife)
  • Regoč (Reygoch)
  • Šuma Striborova (Stribor's Forest)
  • Bratac Jaglenac i sestrica Rutvica (Little Brother Primrose and Sister Lavender)
  • Lutonjica Toporko i devet župančića †
  • Sunce djever i Neva Nevičica (Bridesman Sun and Bride Bridekins)
  • Jagor †

Between 2002 and 2006, the eight stories from the collection were adapted into a series of flash animated cartoons and interactive games made by an international team of animators from eight countries, led by Helena Bulaja. The project won numerous awards at various new media and animation festivals. The cartoons were produced in Croatian, English and German and published in CD-ROM format, and are available for viewing online.[8]

List of translations
LanguageYearTranslatorTitle (Location)
English1922F.S. CopelandCroatian Tales of Long Ago (New York)
1924Croatian Tales of Long Ago (London)
Swedish1928Lavendel och Rosmarin (Stockholm)
Czech1928Jan HudecPohádky z dávných dob (Prague)
Danish1929Lavendel og Rosmarin (Copenhagen)
Russian1930Skazki davnjago vremeni (Zagreb)
(Рассказы из древности)
German1931Aus Urväterzeiten (Zagreb)
1933Aus Urväterzeiten (Salzburg)
Slovak1931Povesti iz pradávna
Slovene1950Zgodbine iz davnine (Zagreb)
1955Pripovedke iz davnine (Ljubljana)
1962Zgodbe iz davnine (Zagreb)
Macedonian1956Prikazni od staro vreme (Skopje)
1957Pripovedke iz davnine (Toronto)
Italian1957Franjo TrogrančićRacconti e leggende della Croazia (Torino)
Albanian1957Tregime te lashtesis (Priština)
Hungarian1965Rég mült idök meséi (Novi Sad)
Ukrainian1965Kazky z davnyny (Kiev)
Latvian2010Horvātu stāsti no senatnes (Rīga)
Lithuanian1975Loreta Vasil- MazuronytėChorvatų sakmės (Vilnius)
Japanese2010Shigeo Kurihara[9]Mukashimukashi no mukashi kara (Kyoto)
(昔々の昔から) [10]

References
  1. "YUL Slavic & East European Collection: Croatian Collection: Literature". Yale University Library. OCLC 684044489. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  2. "Ivana Brlic Mazuranic". Croatian National Bank. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  3. "Croatia - Folklore and regional stories". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  4. "Croatian tales of long ago : Brlic-Mazuranic, Ivana, 1874-1938 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  5. "Tolkien's Hobbit fetches £60,000". BBC Online. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  6. Smith, Anthony (27 November 2000). "Obituary: Rayner Stephens Unwin, publisher". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  7. "Books by J.R.R.Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien Library. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
  8. "Worldwide Fairytale Adventure - Croatian Tales of Long Ago". Bulaja naklada. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  9. "Japanski veliki interes za "Priče iz davnine" Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić" [JAPANESE GREAT INTEREST IN "STORIES FROM ANCIENT TIMES" BY IVANA BRLIĆ MAŽURANIĆ] (in Croatian). Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Japan, Tokyo. 23 August 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  10. "図書出版松籟社ホームページ :: 昔々の昔から" [Book Publishing Shoraisha Homepage :: From ancient times]. 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.

Further reading
  • Babić, Vanda; Vekić, Denis. "Simboličke i značenjske funkcije flore u Pričama iz davnine Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić" [Symbolic and Meaning functions of flora in Tales of Long Ago by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić]. In: Nova prisutnost XVI, br. 2 (2018): 261–276. https://doi.org/10.31192/np.16.2.4
  • Banov, Estela. "Nodilova mitološka razmatranja kao arhitekst Pričama iz davnine Ivane Brlić–Mažuranić" [The mythological in the work of Vladimir Nazor and Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (Slavic Legends and Tales of Long Ago)]. Stoljeće Priča iz davnine Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić. Kos-Lajtman, Andrijana; Kujundžić, Nada; Lovrić Kralj, Sanja (ur.). Zagreb: Hrvatske udruge istraživača dječje književnosti, 2018. pp. 113–130.
  • Engler, Tihomir, and Kos-Lajtman, Andrijana. “Bajkopisna Diseminacija mitoloških Motiva U Pričama Iz davnine Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić Na Primjeru Intertekstualnih Poveznica S Leksikonom A. Tkanyja" [Fairytalemanship-Like Dissemination of Mythological Motives in Croatian Tales of Long Ago by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Exemplified by Intertextual Connections With A. Tkany's Lexicon]. In: Studia Mythologica Slavica 14 (October). 2011. Ljubljana, Slovenija. 307–326. https://doi.org/10.3986/sms.v14i0.1616.
  • Kos-Lajtman, Andrijana; Horvat, Jasna. "Utjecaj ruskih mitoloških i usmenoknjiževnih elemenata na diskurs Priča iz davnine Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić" [Influence of Russian mythological and oral literary elements on the discourse of Priče iz davnine by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić]. In: Zbornik radova Petoga hrvatskog slavističkog kongresa. 2012. pp. 157–166.
  • Kos-Lajtman, Andrijana; Turza-Bogdan, Tamara. "UTJECAJ USMENOKNJIŽEVNOG I MITOLOŠKOG SUPSTRATA VARAŽDINSKOGA KRAJA NA KNJIŽEVNI RAD IVANE BRLIĆ-MAŽURANIĆ" [THE INFLUENCE OF ORAL LITERATURE AND THE MYTHOLOGICAL SUBSTRATUM OF THE VARAŽDIN REGION ON THE LITERARY WORK OF IVANA BRLIĆ-MAŽURANIĆ]. In: Narodna umjetnost 47, br. 2 (2010): 175–190. https://hrcak.srce.hr/61990
  • Peroš, Zrinka; Ivon, Katarina; & Bacalja, Robert. (2007). "More u pričama Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić" [SEA IN TALES OF IVANA BRLIĆ-MAŽURANIĆ]. In: Magistra Iadertina. 2 (2). 2007. pp. 61–78. DOI: 10.15291/magistra.880.
  • Utasi, Anikó. "Jezična šetnja u šumi Striborovoj Prijevod Priča iz davnine Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić na mađarski jezik" [A linguistic walk in Stribor's forest: A translation of Tales of Long Ago into Hungarian]. In: Libri et liberi 6, br. 2 (2018): 213–231. https://doi.org/10.21066/carcl.libri.2017-06(02).0003
  • Vasiljeva, Ljudmila. "Ukrajinski prijevodi Priča iz davnine: leksičke i frazeološke osobitosti" [Ukrainian translations of Tales of Long Ago and their lexical and phraseological characteristics]. In: Libri et liberi 6, br. 2 (2018): 233–244. https://doi.org/10.21066/carcl.libri.2017-06(02).0004
  • Verdonik, Maja. "PRIČE IZ DAVNINE IVANE BRLIĆ-MAŽURANIĆ NA POZORNICI GRADSKOG KAZALIŠTA LUTAKA RIJEKA" [TALES FROM LONG AGO BY IVANA BRLIĆ-MAŽURANIĆ ON THE CITY PUPPET THEATRE RIJEKA STAGE]. In: FLUMINENSIA 21, br. 1 (2009): 145–162. https://hrcak.srce.hr/43479
  • Zima, Dubravka. "Bajke Ivane Brlić-Mažuranić izvan "Priča iz davnine" [The Fairy Tales of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić and Children's Literature]. In: Kroatologija 2, br. 1 (2011): 217–229. https://hrcak.srce.hr/75503
  • Libri et Liberi: Časopis za istraživanje dječje književnosti i kulture [Journal of Research on Children's Literature and Culture] Vol. 5 No. 2. Zagreb: Hrvatska udruga istraživača dječje književnosti [Croatian Association of Researchers in Children's Literature]. 2016. pp. 323–438. ISSN 1848-5871. DOI: 10.21066/carcl.libri
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